I’m already missing Magical Tinkering from the 2014 rule set, and it isn't even gone yet! It brought so much fun and creativity to our games. I’ll miss it dearly if it gets replaced by the Magical Tinkling of 2024. Sure, the new version may offer some “fun” and useful applications for mundane items, but nothing will ever beat the look on my DM’s face when I first combined a silent image with the sound of running footsteps! “What ability is that?” they asked, dubiously. Laughing, I couldn’t help but ask, “Can I at least roll Deception with advantage?”
Seriously, the magical tinkering of 2014 was so much fun. I've used it a million times over the years, and it is one of the reasons I love playing an artificer. But, you know, you have to make lemons when Hasbro gives you lemonade, right? At least, he new magical tinkling you're a walking talking hardware store, so there's that.
For convenience, here's Magical Tinkling from the Unearthed Arcana playtest document:
LEVEL 1: MAGICAL TINKERING As a Magic action while holding Tinker’s Tools, you can create one item in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of yourself, choosing the item from the following list:
Ball Bearings
Net
Basket
Oil
Bedroll
Paper
Bell
Parchment
Blanket
Pole
Block and Tackle
Pouch
Bucket
Rope
Caltrops
Sack
Candle
Shovel
Crowbar
String
Flask
Tinderbox
Jug
Torch
Lamp
Vial
How do you envision using such items? The thing that first popped into my mind, after, hunh? is making traps. Even the disappears after an hour feature can figure into a trap if it disappears at the right moment.
With all the emphasis on crafting nowadays, we should be able to make something, right?nets, ropes, caltrops, and most of the stuff can be used to devise traps. Could we brainstorm traps and how we'd go about making them?
Wait a minute, could we get a traps book, similar to the puzzles one? Has anyone already published something like that already?
Although I definitely prefer the old feature, there is SOME playability with these if you can use the disappearance. (Much better if the Artificer can just dismiss an object at will with an action instead of in a timeframe.)
So here's your trap. An otherwise lightless room that you place the candle in, to draw them in. Place a piece of parchment as bait. Use the Rope to suspend the crowbar above the bait point.
Time your creation so that as soon as the victim walks in and gets to the parchment, the lamp goes out, the rope disappears, the crowbar falls on their head and maybe pushes them into a hole that you dug with the shovel and covered with the bedroll. The crowbar and bedroll disappear several minutes after the trap was sprung, and there's no evidence left, just a body in a hole. Which I suppose you can bury with the shovel and the dirt you piled in the corner, if you're still in the vicinity.
Getting the timing right so that the trap springs exactly an hour after you make the rope, that's pretty tricksy, though getting the order of disappearance of the items seems doable enough.
It is the one thing that bugs me about the new Magical Tinkling that they've come up with, why can't the objects be dismissed? So many other magical actions have a dismiss property, why not this one?
The bedroll over a hole is a great trap.
String trip wire causing a net to drop.
String trip wire causing the torch to drop onto the puddle of -- hopefully -- flammable oil.
I guess, we'll have to go all "Home Alone" here, but the biggest problem is that there is nothing really heavy on the list, you know like Wile E. Coyote's Acme anvil.
Indeed, one of the great hacks/loopholes of the original Magical Tinkering is the ability to dismiss by making too many items. It seems like just an oversight, like they said "ha let's make it a crafting feature and we'll let them make the things crafters make" without a lot of thought to usage (as evidence, the 1 hour bedroll). The new UA has them last until the end of a long rest instead of an hour which makes the bedroll work but not the trappy ideas.
As a DM, I'd houserule in that you can dismiss the items at will, and without touching. Then you know that when the bedroll disappears, your friends on the other side of the army have started their attack.
Okay, so you can't say, let's give them a treasure map that they can follow long enough to get deep into the dungeon and have it disappear so they're lost. But, the bedroll over the hole works. And dropping caltrops or ball bearings as you flee guard barracks in the middle of the night still works. There are traps that can work that don't rely on the hour duration or dismissal. A candle can still burn through a rope. We just don't have an anvil to drop on someone's head.
Still, being able to create a bedroll for eight hours so you don't have to carry one in your bag is such a relief. It was always one of those things that caused such consternation around our table... "Did you SAY your character bought a bedroll at the Wolf's Den Adventuring Supply Store?" "Did you take one in your starting inventory?" "I'm sorry, that bedroll puts you over your encumbrance allowance." So many things now avoided.
Pots ... cook dinner, no dishes, new pot tomorrow. Suppose if pots are not on the official list a shovel does make a handy frying pan with long handle.
Okay, so you can't say, let's give them a treasure map that they can follow long enough to get deep into the dungeon and have it disappear so they're lost. But, the bedroll over the hole works. And dropping caltrops or ball bearings as you flee guard barracks in the middle of the night still works. There are traps that can work that don't rely on the hour duration or dismissal. A candle can still burn through a rope. We just don't have an anvil to drop on someone's head.
Still, being able to create a bedroll for eight hours so you don't have to carry one in your bag is such a relief. It was always one of those things that caused such consternation around our table... "Did you SAY your character bought a bedroll at the Wolf's Den Adventuring Supply Store?" "Did you take one in your starting inventory?" "I'm sorry, that bedroll puts you over your encumbrance allowance." So many things now avoided.
Game On, Sibling! Jack
My artificer did get caught for a bit without a bedroll at level one (indeed due to encumbrance, she had one, just elsewhere), but now that she made herself a bag of holding it's not a problem and will never be again in this campaign.
Being able to quickly reproduce multiple copies of a map is way more useful, even if they have to be copied down later.
So now I'm thinking of a version of The Shoveler from the movie Mystery Men. Probably do a shovel skinned as a quarterstaff with the PAM feat giving the extra attack :o)
Just like weapon bonding for an eldritch knight, create a shovel on the fly and attack with it (DM approval of course)
So now I'm thinking of a version of The Shoveler from the movie Mystery Men. Probably do a shovel skinned as a quarterstaff with the PAM feat giving the extra attack :o)
Just like weapon bonding for an eldritch knight, create a shovel on the fly and attack with it (DM approval of course)
Howdy y'all!
I’m already missing Magical Tinkering from the 2014 rule set, and it isn't even gone yet! It brought so much fun and creativity to our games. I’ll miss it dearly if it gets replaced by the Magical Tinkling of 2024. Sure, the new version may offer some “fun” and useful applications for mundane items, but nothing will ever beat the look on my DM’s face when I first combined a silent image with the sound of running footsteps! “What ability is that?” they asked, dubiously. Laughing, I couldn’t help but ask, “Can I at least roll Deception with advantage?”
Seriously, the magical tinkering of 2014 was so much fun. I've used it a million times over the years, and it is one of the reasons I love playing an artificer. But, you know, you have to make lemons when Hasbro gives you lemonade, right? At least, he new magical tinkling you're a walking talking hardware store, so there's that.
For convenience, here's Magical Tinkling from the Unearthed Arcana playtest document:
LEVEL 1: MAGICAL TINKERING As a Magic action while holding Tinker’s Tools, you can create one item in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of yourself, choosing the item from the following list:
How do you envision using such items? The thing that first popped into my mind, after, hunh? is making traps. Even the disappears after an hour feature can figure into a trap if it disappears at the right moment.
With all the emphasis on crafting nowadays, we should be able to make something, right?nets, ropes, caltrops, and most of the stuff can be used to devise traps. Could we brainstorm traps and how we'd go about making them?
Wait a minute, could we get a traps book, similar to the puzzles one? Has anyone already published something like that already?
Looking forward to your ideas, siblings!
Game On!
Jack
Although I definitely prefer the old feature, there is SOME playability with these if you can use the disappearance. (Much better if the Artificer can just dismiss an object at will with an action instead of in a timeframe.)
So here's your trap. An otherwise lightless room that you place the candle in, to draw them in. Place a piece of parchment as bait. Use the Rope to suspend the crowbar above the bait point.
Time your creation so that as soon as the victim walks in and gets to the parchment, the lamp goes out, the rope disappears, the crowbar falls on their head and maybe pushes them into a hole that you dug with the shovel and covered with the bedroll. The crowbar and bedroll disappear several minutes after the trap was sprung, and there's no evidence left, just a body in a hole. Which I suppose you can bury with the shovel and the dirt you piled in the corner, if you're still in the vicinity.
Getting the timing right so that the trap springs exactly an hour after you make the rope, that's pretty tricksy, though getting the order of disappearance of the items seems doable enough.
Howdy Foolish!
It is the one thing that bugs me about the new Magical Tinkling that they've come up with, why can't the objects be dismissed? So many other magical actions have a dismiss property, why not this one?
The bedroll over a hole is a great trap.
String trip wire causing a net to drop.
String trip wire causing the torch to drop onto the puddle of -- hopefully -- flammable oil.
I guess, we'll have to go all "Home Alone" here, but the biggest problem is that there is nothing really heavy on the list, you know like Wile E. Coyote's Acme anvil.
Game On, Sibling!
Jack
Indeed, one of the great hacks/loopholes of the original Magical Tinkering is the ability to dismiss by making too many items. It seems like just an oversight, like they said "ha let's make it a crafting feature and we'll let them make the things crafters make" without a lot of thought to usage (as evidence, the 1 hour bedroll). The new UA has them last until the end of a long rest instead of an hour which makes the bedroll work but not the trappy ideas.
As a DM, I'd houserule in that you can dismiss the items at will, and without touching. Then you know that when the bedroll disappears, your friends on the other side of the army have started their attack.
Howdy Foolish!
Okay, so you can't say, let's give them a treasure map that they can follow long enough to get deep into the dungeon and have it disappear so they're lost. But, the bedroll over the hole works. And dropping caltrops or ball bearings as you flee guard barracks in the middle of the night still works. There are traps that can work that don't rely on the hour duration or dismissal. A candle can still burn through a rope. We just don't have an anvil to drop on someone's head.
Still, being able to create a bedroll for eight hours so you don't have to carry one in your bag is such a relief. It was always one of those things that caused such consternation around our table... "Did you SAY your character bought a bedroll at the Wolf's Den Adventuring Supply Store?" "Did you take one in your starting inventory?" "I'm sorry, that bedroll puts you over your encumbrance allowance." So many things now avoided.
Game On, Sibling!
Jack
Pots ... cook dinner, no dishes, new pot tomorrow. Suppose if pots are not on the official list a shovel does make a handy frying pan with long handle.
Life's hard - get a helmet!
The shovel, a frying pan and fire wood. Who knew?
Jack
My artificer did get caught for a bit without a bedroll at level one (indeed due to encumbrance, she had one, just elsewhere), but now that she made herself a bag of holding it's not a problem and will never be again in this campaign.
Being able to quickly reproduce multiple copies of a map is way more useful, even if they have to be copied down later.
So now I'm thinking of a version of The Shoveler from the movie Mystery Men. Probably do a shovel skinned as a quarterstaff with the PAM feat giving the extra attack :o)
Just like weapon bonding for an eldritch knight, create a shovel on the fly and attack with it (DM approval of course)
Life's hard - get a helmet!
And surely it counts as a magic weapon... :-)
The Eldritch Knight's Vorpal Shovel?